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Best Ice Wine

Firelands Winery

917 Bardshar Rd., Sandusky, 419-625-5474, www.firelandswinery.com

In order to capture grapes at their sweetest, most tender moments, vineyard workers at Firelands Winery handpick their fruits at 2 a.m. on a frigid December morning, a few days after winter's first freeze. These bunches of sugary Vidal Blanc grapes are then pressed into the area's best dessert wine. Firelands' ice wines are known for their rich, sweet complexities. The wine is sugary without being saccharine and has a clean, dry finish. And like most great after-dinner wines, Firelands' has a light, wispy body and a long, lingering, refreshing finish. The alcohol is slightly tropical tasting, with hints of apple, pear, and honey, and shadings of nectar. And we hear it gets you buzzed -- never a bad thing.